Thursday, 14 June 2012

Garden Log - June Update

Although it's been a bit duller than anyone would like, June has seen my garden start to fill out a bit. Bare earth is starting to give way to greenery and, although the splashes of colour are a bit thin, they are starting to appear. I'm particularly pleased with the way the Delphiniums and Foxgloves are performing. The photo above shows the two better Delphiniums. These are starting to sprout a pleasing mount of new growth from the bases, and the colours are just fabulous. I have however lost one of them. It was slowly but surely failing, and gave up the ghost altogether about a week ago. All is not lost though as I took some cuttings from them before planting, two of which have taken.

The Pelargoniums in the front beds are flowering for the first time (the one above lived in a pot when I first got it and never flowered until planted out), and the bees seem to love them.

The Rose bushes are starting to thicken up. I must do some more looking into how to look after these as they, like everything else that was here before, have been rather neglected and I suspect I'm probably not going to get the best from them until they get some TLC. The Snapdragons are getting nice and bushy from piching out, so hopefully they should start filling out a bit more soon.

The back garden is coming on nicely too, although again a little slower than I'd like. I must learn more patience! There is an excellent article on The Telegraph gardening site by James Alexander-Sinclair at the moment on slowing down your gardening and being more patient. I must take heed...

As I've already mentioned, the Foxgloves are coming on beautifully. I fully intend to let them self seed as much as possible in the hope of getting clumps of them. Lovely blooms which I shall be very sorry to lose when they're over.

The main bed is still a bit bare - the Aquilegias are nearly over and everything else is still coming through. There are loads of seedlings coming, and the Hostas are starting to burst through the earth, so it should all be quite full in a few weeks.

The Anemones in the patio bed are also approaching the "done" side of things, but they've been beautiful, a real joy to look at. I look forward to seeing them again next year, and fully intend to add some reinforcements! This bed is now waiting for the Sweetpeas, Snapdragons, and Harlequins to begin their magic. I've also added a Pelargonium and am intending to move a Hosta over to it to fill it out.

My mini herb garden has gone bonkers, as have the Nasturtiums. The Sweetpeas and Jasmine on this side are slowly starting to claw their way up the arch and the Oriental Lillies look like they're ready to burst into flower.

The patio itself is now awash with pots of both veg and flowers. It's a lovely atmosphere to sit out in. The second batch of salad is now in use (must get another sown) and the potatoes can't be far from being harvestable from the size of the foliage.

All in all, not too bad. If someone could arrange a little more sun to bring things on a bit faster, and allow more time outside to enjoy it, that would be wonderful.

About Me

By profession I'm an I.T. tech working in the education sector, but in real life I like to spend my time with my family, and trying to find an odd few hours to indulge my love of gardening and all things automotive.